While Rift
has been the first AAA title in the post-WoW era to sustain measurable
growth, it has had its fair share of attrition. The team at Trion
certainly hasnt rested on their laurels as they have cranked out a
staggering amount of new content and upgrades in the past 8
months. There are certainly a percentage of players who will simply
never return to the game no matter what develops in Telara, but I
suspect many of those who stopped logging in would be pleasantly
surprised if they chose to re-ascend.

I put together a list of some of the major elements that have been
added since launch that I feel would be most intriguing to the expats.
While it is by no means a complete list, I feel it highlights something
for just about every type of player. Along with these additions there
have also been tons of refinements, tweaks, upgrades and fixes
throughout the game that have improved the player experience. Even the
things that worried the players the most: cross server LFG and free
server transfers have worked out amazingly well  a testament to the
strength of the Rift
community.

Chronicles

Introduced in Update 1.5, Chronicles are 1 to 2 player instances that
expand on the lore of existing 20 player raid zones. Featuring tier 1
currency rewards and rare drops that are perfect for fresh level 50
characters, Chronicles are a great way to help advance your toon. There
are currently two iterations of these mini-raids; Hammerknell: Runes of
Corruption and Greenscales Blight: The Fallen Prince. They are on a
daily lockout system and can be completed in less than 40 minutes, so
grab a buddy or go solo for a quick load and go adventure.

Slivers

One of the more highly contested decisions made towards the end of Rift
beta was that of 20 player raids. Many in the community were in favor
of having 10 player raids or the ability to switch between 10 and 20
player versions. Even though that faction may have lost the
early battle they were able to gain a victory with the addition of
Slivers, a 10 player raid instance mechanic fueled by a new planar
ability. Slivers are described as bends in the timestream that can only
been viewed through the use of Quantum Sight (Defiant) or Omen Sight
(Guardian). They are on a one week lockout cycle and award raid level
items and currency. The bosses are fun and challenging and
offer great rewards for a smaller guild or a skilled pickup group.

Crafting Rifts

Using the same tears that standard rifts spawn from, crafting rifts
offer a unique and rewarding experience for the artisans of Telara.
Players who have achieved the highest level of professional aptitude
can gain a crafting lure once per week via a special crafting
quest. The rewards from successfully closing the rift will be
unique to the trade of the player who opened it, and will match the
level of the tear. Many players now form parties of multiple
crafters and set out on crifting adventures to maximize their weekly
gains by banding together for bigger rewards.

Introduced in Patch 1.5, Planar Attunement is an alternate advancement
system that gives level capped players continued rewards for gaining
experience. Planar Attunement uses a grid system of stepped
advancement based on the planar aspects of the game. Each aspect
features 3 levels of tiered progression that offer bigger and better
rewards as you move up. While most of the available skills are nice
bumps in things such as base stat upgrades, higher damage with wands,
lessened failing damage, ect., none are game breaking in terms of
balance.

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PvP Enhancements

Along with the standard class-balancing act that is common in every PvP
enabled MMOG, Rift has made some solid improvements to PvP since
launch. One the more intriguing additions has been that of
PvP rifts. These defend and attack style encounters pit faction vs.
faction as those that opened the rift attempt to shuttle in resources
while the opposing players try and stop them. In addition to PvP
rewards these rifts are also featured in daily quests.

PvP has been further refined with cross-shard warfront queues, a new
warfront and weekend based escalations which highlight one warfront
and grant double rewards. The new warfront; Library of the Runemasters, was originally patched in as
weekend only zone, but due to its popularity it eventually became
a permanent fixture.

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RIFT
Game Page.